ANAME Records

Faster, smarter, and more accurate configurations

Unlock your domain's potential with DNS Made Easy's proprietary ANAME record—used just like a CNAME record, but with all of the advantages of an A record. Experience increased performance when ANAME records are configured.

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Why You Should Choose ANAME

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Performance

ANAME cuts down resolution times, which can boost search engine rankings and user experience.

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Load Balancing

ANAME records can be used in a Round Robin load balancing configuration.

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Regional ANAME Records

They can be combined with Global Traffic Director for region-specific responses.

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Instant Syncing

DNS updates are instantaneous! When our systems detect an IP change, we update your ANAME record in real time.

What is an ANAME record?

An ANAME record is configured just like a CNAME record, but without the limitations. You can use an ANAME record at the root/base of your domain name and where other record types are required at the same namespace (TXT, MX, CAA, etc.).

All ANAME records in DNS Made Easy are converted into A records behind the scenes. We then routinely monitor and update the A records to keep your domain up-to-date with the resolution of your desired hostname.

ANAME records are most commonly used to point the root of a domain to a Content Delivery Network (CDN). Combined with Global Traffic Director, domains can have regional A record resolution as well.
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If you require advanced, real-time geo-based decisions, check out our sister company Constellix, which offers the latest and most innovative version of the ANAME/ALIAS record in the industry. Contact us for more information.

DNS records explained

CNAME record + A record = ANAME record

CNAME records: point a namespace to an Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). This would be used at the root of your domain or where you require additional record types to be created as well (TXT, MX, CAA, etc.)

Example Use Case:
www.example.com  >  FQDN  127.1.1.1

A records: point the root or subdomain to an IP address.

ANAME records: We combined the two record types to create a record that behaves like a CNAME record (points to a FQDN) but at the root level.

How do ANAME records work?

DNS Made Easy ANAME records are a virtual record type, because they require the assistance of a resolving name server to turn an FQDN into an IP address.

When a DNS client queries for an record that is answered as an ANAME record DNS Made Easy will respond with an IP address. The IP address is retrieved by a background process which will continually check to see if the FQDN has changed.

Need more advanced DNS?

If we can't resolve the ANAME record, we will return a cached IP address that we retrieved during an earlier resolution. This way, if the FQDN is unresponsive for whatever reason, we will still have an endpoint to return and you can avoid unnecessary downtime.

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Try our new service, Constellix , which offers a completely reinvented ANAME service that support EDNS client subnet for more geo-accurate query routing. Constellix ANAME is faster, more reliable, and granular. We highly recommend switching to Constellix is you are using ANAME records to point to mission critical systems that are updated frequently or you require the most accurate GeoDNS resolution.

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